


Minor Inconveniences

by Percy_Anthony



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Friendship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 03:52:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3835987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Percy_Anthony/pseuds/Percy_Anthony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remus recounts the many minor inconveniences of being a werewolf - inconveniences that to some might be a bit more than just minor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Minor Inconveniences

**Author's Note:**

> I made up the laws stuff! If there's any official stuff on laws against werewolves please tell me, but I think I did alright.

First and foremost, the most common inconvenience had to be the inability to carry around Sickles. The slight burning on his skin from touching would grow the longer he touched the coins, and would linger for hours. Blessed or not, the metal burned and if he carried it around too much he thought he felt himself becoming sick to the stomach. Remus never knew if it was all in his head or not, but he didn't want to bother finding out. He knew for sure though, that the pink-red marks left behind after counting Sickles out were real and he didn't like it. Besides not carrying any Sickles, around at all was a lot less suspicious than having the shopkeeper see the marks and wonder what left them.

It was, of course, a little inconvenient, but he could deal. During school Sirius, James and Peter made a habit of carrying a separate bag of what would have been his Sickles and then just pretending to cover for him when buying things down at Hogsmeade. When he was in Diagon Alley though, they weren't always there and he had to hope he had enough of either Knuts or Galleons to cover the cost of his purchases. Worst of all was when a shopkeeper was a bit too well versed in why whenever they saw him he never had Sickles, and they started looking at him with suspicion. He'd learned to get over it, and wouldn't go to that shop the next time he was around. He'd gotten very speedy at counting out Knuts and Galleons out on the other hand. Still he never once missed the look of utter disgust when he laid down 203 Knuts on a counter instead of 7 Sickles. 

Sometimes though a shopkeeper would figure it out. That he didn't just not have Sickles, and there was another reason for always never having the silver coin. Sometimes they'd politely ask him to have someone else do his shopping for him - as if all werewolves just had some friend they could call up to buy groceries for them - others would yell, scream and make a scene. Banning him from their shop permanently. Those were the worst. Still, inconvenience or not, Remus could deal with it. He never liked Sickles anyways.

* * *

The next inconvenience was easy to avoid. It really only ever posed a problem during Winter around Christmastime. Damned mistletoe. Sure it only messed with him a little, but when people demand to hang it in large bunches every two feet he couldn't handle it. All the books say it just wards off werewolves, but Remus is guessing the people who wrote the books never actually asked a werewolf what it does. His senses got mixed around, mostly his scent but still it caused him some problems. A few sprigs here and there was no big deal, he'd submitted to a couple of traditional kisses (on the cheeks) during the holidays. Yet, there was never just one or two sprigs. It was the worst during school when they couldn't exactly just ban mistletoe and the use of the decoration seemed to just get more and more over the top each year. 

At first he just had to deal with the smell. It wasn't foul or anything, it was just bothersome. Like it was an allergy. So of course the more of it there was and the longer he was around it the worse it got. His eyes would water and his nose would get all snuffly. Usually when anyone asked James or Sirius would have covered for him saying stupid things like "The lights are just so beautiful, he can't handle the overwhelming joy it brings him" or "He's secretly allergic to Christmas ignore him before his humbug rubs off on you" or his absolute favorite "He's allergic to you". Still after awhile he stopped being able to handle it. A migraine would build just behind his eyes and he wasn't able to focus on anything. Remus would get snappy with anyone who talked too loud, and would grumble until it went away. 

After the migraine, it all went downhill, nausea, and dizziness. Sometimes when the mistletoe was in an aggressively large amount he'd find himself bent over the toilet trying not to lose everything he'd eaten that day. He couldn't even step into Diagon Alley during Christmas season, he barely used to handle Hogsmeade. Still it wasn't that big of a deal, one or two sprigs wouldn't affect him all that much - so he dealt with it. Not like he had the right to tromp on everyone's fun by telling them to get rid of their mistletoe.

* * *

Would you ever think of rye as being a problem right? Well, it was just another in a long list of inconveniences that seemed to plague Remus' entire life. It weakens werewolves, so sometimes trying to find some bread to eat became a problem. Bread was a staple in the diet of a werewolf, it was cheap and easy to buy. Yet, rye was popular, especially because people seemed to like selling things that would hurt werewolves. Remus would say though, that rye was the inconvenience he could use to his advantage. It couldn't kill him, and although you wouldn't see him romping through a rye field anytime soon, eating it right before a full moon would keep the wolf a little quieter. Of course the next day he'd be quite sick, on top of recovering from the transformation, he still did it on occasion when he felt that the full was going to be especially difficult.

Still, when he accidentally had some rye bread or whiskey made with rye, the sudden unexpected sickness wasn't very welcome. At James' bachelor party, there had been some fire whiskey made with rye as an ingredient, and Remus hadn't the heart to leave early due to the increasing sick feeling the more he drank. He would have stopped, but everyone has having so much fun and this part was for James. He didn't want to ruin it just because he didn't like the drink. Remus justified drinking the extra alcohol by saying even if it didn't have rye he probably would have drunken enough to warrant a nasty hangover the next day anyways. No one questioned it when the day after the party Remus was sick in bed. He kept the rye problem to himself, not wanting to make James feel guilty about it when the man was so happy, and just told them he might have drunk just a tad too much.

He shrugged at the thought of it. Sure sometimes he'd have to bite the bullet and buy rye bread, it was actually helpful sometimes. Remus just didn't think that not being able to have some bread or whiskey was that big a problem. Just a small minor inconvenience that could be easily covered up.

* * *

Wolfsbane was only ever a problem during school. Once he graduated, he hadn't gone into Herbology nor Potions, so he never had a reason to deal with the substance. Yet those times when the assignment called for him to interact with the substance he could just feel himself sigh in annoyance. It can't do much damage unless he ingested it, but the rash and irritation it caused when he touched it was enough to make him hate it. Once the others had discovered his "furry little problem" they had done their best to help out when he had to deal with it. Peter had been a real life saver in Potions, and whenever Wolfsbane came into play he would pretend to just be showing Remus how to do the assignment so he wouldn't have to deal with it. Considering how ghastly bad he was at Potions no one ever questioned it. Herbology was easier to deal with, they always wore gloves in that class.

It was he was out on the streets is when it started to bother him. Even though it wasn't a big deal unless he swallowed it, Wolfsbane was a symbol of anti-werewolf ideology everywhere. Many times he found a large Wolfsbane plant parked outside a shop, inn, or just a regular house as a sign to say "No Werewolves Welcome Here". Other times people took it a step further and would hang signs or put grotesque effigies of dead wolves inside the plant pot to seriously display their hatred for him and his kind. He could never help but feel nervous when he saw those. As if the person who owned it was going to see him automatically know his secret and cause a scene. His heart and walking pace would both speed when he saw these things, Remus hoped he wasn't to obvious. 

He could shake it off though. He could pretend it wasn't there. He could handle it, this inconvenience wasn't too big.

* * *

The laws proposed the largest amount of inconveniences for him. It was perfectly legal for people to refuse service and jobs to a werewolf. It was also perfectly legal to report to the ministry of a werewolf for no other reason than "they made me nervous". Which would then result in a summons from the ministry to ensure he was keeping his toes in line. He got threatened with that once, and out of a desire to keep all his toes (in line and otherwise) he made considerable effort to act as calm and kind as a possible - even to the most prejudiced of persons. Many of the jobs he was actually qualified for had a large "NO WEREWOLVES WELCOME" stamped across the top of the help wanted ad. His search for a job usually ended right there. 

Of course, he could occasionally he could work as a simple janitor, cleaning up and such. He'd done a lot of menial jobs in his times. Bouncing from washing dishes and clothes, sweeping floors and changing sheets in hotels. Yet, if refusing to serve and hire him was the only problem, Remus thought he could handle it. It was the fact they could fire him whenever and refuse to pay his final check is what got him. Time down the drain and energy wasted. Sirius often threatened to go down to his numerous ex-work places and yell at the owner for his behavior - Remus always managed to talk him out of it before he went through with it though. He thinks he did at least. Remus managed to get money from odd jobs often enough, non-official work, but it bought him his bread (rye and otherwise).

Sure it was the source of a majority of his problems, but he managed. Just a little hurdle to get over. Even though he would speak his mind about certain people in the Ministry now and then, it wasn't like he could change it. Besides, being unemployed and being a werewolf were nearly synonyms. 

* * *

Hatred was common. And with hatred came fear. Fear was just another inconvenience of course though. Even though, he spent a large part of his time at Hogwarts terrified at the thought of being discovered, especially after Snape figured it out. Nightmares about walking into the Great Hall one day and having all those faces glaring at him were common. The nightmares calmed down when his friends stood by his side even after the discovery though, but needless to say once they were gone the nightmares came back. In the real world, there weren't any professors to protect him from mean people. He was a registered werewolf. Some people who really vehemently hated werewolves would search him out and harass him for a bit. He's had to leave an apartment he had worked hard to not only acquire but afford because of people coming 'round and telling him to get out. He'd learned soon after the first few broken windows that they meant business, and he would quietly leave before it grew into an even worse situation.

There were clubs of people who would just keep their eyes out for registered werewolves. They didn't do much. Like most bullies, they would harass all they could until they thought they might get called out for it. They'd throw rocks and such at him if they recognized him; Remus had adopted wearing hats and high collars to help prevent this. He'd gotten very tired of having a black eye or bloody nose because a stone actually met its mark. A raised hand or quick movement still made him flinch, sometimes leaving him in a state of anxious paranoia that followed him the entire day.

The worst part of this inconvenience was the fact that sometimes he'd even flinch at his friends who wanted nothing more than a hug or a high five. He always felt guilty when he did that, Remus had promised himself to change that - but he supposes he won't have that chance anymore.

* * *

Suspicion. People always thought he was evil. At least. That's what he told himself so when people did he wouldn't hurt as much. Sure there had been surprises. Sirius, James, Peter, Lily. A few in the Order. But the mass majority of people would never trust him. He told himself he didn't care. He told himself that it was alright. When people in the Order looked at him when whispering of a spy on the inside started up, he just sighed and kept going. 

It wasn't until Sirius looked at him that way did it hurt. The masked glare he'd seen his friend give others time and time again was suddenly directed at him. Yet it was the way he was spoken to now that hurt the worst. "So where were you today Moony? - Bit late for the meeting today, eh? - You've been keeping to yourself lately, haven't you... - Been making new friends, _Lupin"_. Lily would try to get him to stop. But it just escalated. Remus couldn't even bring himself to argue. Except one night where the quiet accusations turned into a full blown argument. Usually he refrained from yelling, but when Sirius started yelling he had to yell back. He wasn't even angry. He was admitted it. For the first time since his friends told him he knew they was a werewolf - he was afraid of Sirius Black.

Remus couldn't blame him though. Couldn't be angry. He deserved it, it wasn't like Remus hadn't suspected Sirius back as a sort of bite back for Sirius having suspected him. People suspecting him of evil things was common, people he didn't know, people in the Order, people he was friends with and people he loved. In the end he supposed it was just another inconvenience of being him. Even if it was his best friend that was suspecting him. He didn't have the right to be upset.

In the end he was just another werewolf. And that was the biggest minor inconvenience of them all.

 

**Author's Note:**

> First Harry Potter fic. Might do more in the future! I used general modern and contemporary theories behind werewolves for Remsy.


End file.
